Final Loss of 2014

First off let me apologize about the tardiness of this post. I like many of you was at a New Years party and as much as I tried to capture the game as I usually do it was just impossible to do. Secondly please understand that I am writing this up at 2AM and may not remember things as vividly as I did 3 hours ago. Anyway on to the game.

Highlights

First Period

The Oilers headed to the penalty kill about the 3 minutes into the game when Mark Fayne took an interference penalty on Paul Byron. The Oilers killed that initial penalty quite well not allowing a shot to get through to Ben Scrivens who was playing in his second game in as many nights.

Five minutes after the first penalty expired Keith Aulie took a hooking penalty on Joe Colborne and once again the Oilers played it quite well. Although the Flames maintained possession for the majority of the penalty the Oilers only allowed 1 shot get through to Scrivens.

With just over 5 minutes to play in the first Matt Stajan tripped up Derek Roy and the Oilers headed to the power play. As we've seen many times this season the Oilers struggled to gain and maintain the zone on the power play but with 3 seconds left. David Perron was able to get a shot to the net and took an extra whack at a non-existent puck that fooled Jonas Hiller enough to allow Matt Fraser to score by banking the puck in off of Hiller into the net.

Then things got a little ugly. With a minute left to play a pass attempt was made up to Matt Stajan but it slipped through his skates and he never touched the puck. Meanwhile Aulie flattened Stajan with a hit to the head. Aulie would receive a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for the head hit.

In the dying seconds of the first Scrivens made two spectacular saves to keep the game 1-0.

Second Period

The Flames started the the third with 4:05 remaining in the major to Aulie and the Flames came at the Oilers hard, determined to tie the game. Ben Scrivens stood tall and kept the game 1-0.

With 13 minutes left in the period Coleborne took a hooking penalty on David Perron but the Oilers were never able to setup and the no damage was done.

With 9.5 minutes left in the second Taylor Hall was able to get a pass over to Leon Draisaitl who found Jordan Eberle wide open in the slot. Eberle made no mistake and it was 2-0 Oilers.

As we all know a 2 goal lead for the Oilers is difficult to hold onto. As luck would have it, on the power play, Coleborne received the puck from Monahan and had a wide open net to score on.

Third Period

At this point in the game the Flames looked determined they were going to tie this game and sure enough at 15:32 Lance Bouma scored when a bouncing puck landed on his stick and he was able to Scrivens on the glove side.

After that goal the Oilers gained some life again and started to push back 5 minutes late Draisaitl would find Ference at the point and blast it into the back of the net.

Alas the night wasn't over. Nope not at all. Only a minute and a half later Calgary would hold the puck in at the line and it would eventually find its way to Coleborne standing alone infront of Scrivens. He'd turn and shoot and the game was tied.

With just under a minute remaining Josh Jooris and Jeff Perty would receive coincidental minors. Jooris for tripping and Petry for embellishment.

Overtime

For the second time in as many games the Oilers would head to overtime.

It started 3v3 due to the penalties carrying over from the third. Early on Brodie got a good chance but Scrivens made the save. Then the penalty expired and as we've seen a million times already this season the Oilers screwed up a line change which lead to a 2 on 1 against Hall. Sure enough Jooris scored and that was the end of the game.

Thoughts

Well at least 2014 is over. See you again in 2015.